Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Episode 60 Koranic Criticism with guest Ibn Warraq

Most Muslims believe the Koran was dictated by God--word for word, in Arabic-- to Muhammad through the archangel Gabriel. For years Koranic scholars (even in western, secular institutions) have been reluctant to challenge this notion. But now a handful of academics are applying the same critical methods used in biblical studies to the study of the Koran. Koranic criticism is still in its infancy but scholars are already discovering facts which radically challenge the traditional account. Ibn Warraq, author of "Why I am Not a Muslim" and "What the Koran Really Says" joins us on the show to discuss some of these findings.

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We always cite the name and lead author of any peer-reviewed journal articles we use. We seldom link to them because often they require a subscription to either the journal or another service to read. Luckily, in this case somebody has posted a free PDF of the article.

"For years Koranic scholars (even in western, secular institutions) have been reluctant to challenge this notion."

Risking death is a heavy price to pay for asking questions, but questions eventually come out anyway. It happened in Christianity. Of course, it's a genie out of the bottle sort of thing because, once started, there's no obvious stopping point, and things can go from respectful inquiry to debunking that which one no longer accepts as true in any sense.